Today they pretty much finished the space which will now wait for the cabinets and appliances. There are some covers that need to be made to go over the electric and plumbing. But the walls and ceiling are done and have been painted. The floor is laid and grouted and the terrace has been rid of all the trash and built up detritus. There is still a ton of dust that needs to be cleaned up but I will do that a little at a time. I can finally access the upstairs internally again. I am pleased with it.
From the door to the stairwell.From the stairs From the terrazzo
~~~~~~~~ Over the weekend we had lunch to celebrate our friend Doug’s successful passing of the extremely difficult written driving test. I’ve spoken of this before. The test is in Italian, technical Italian, and draws 30 questions from over 7,000 possible questions. You can miss 3 and pass. All Americans, and Canadians (I think) must take this test within a year of becoming a resident in Italy. After a year it is illegal to drive on your US license. I’ve got lots of friends here and every one of them has passed despite not necessarily being fluent in Italian. It takes months of study, you must enroll in a driving school and really it is a matter of memorization. Anyway, it was a special day for Doug and five of us had lunch in Bevagna. It was sunny but chilly. First picture is of an early flowering tree in front of one of Bevagna’s gates.
Lunch was at le Delizie del Borgo which is situated just outside the walls of the city in a pretty park. Captions beneath the photos.
Steak with fennel and pomegranate Passito – after lunch drinkDoug’s dessert. No idea what it was but it looked great!They have cute coffee cups with hats! Keeps the coffee nice and hot.
Then, we lucked into (not) another parade past our house. I was just taking a nap and was roused by the pounding bass from enormous speakers. I have no idea what the occasion was but I took one photo.
Exciting times. I met with Irma, my architect, along with Alessandro and Donatello. Such pretty names for construction men. Donatello is the idraulica, plumber. He will move the pipes and gas. Alessandro will do the demolition. The work begins tomorrow. There is nothing much interesting in these pictures except to document what it looked like before the work started. First The Wall. This will be demolished.
The floors will be jackhammered up and removed. This was a conundrum for Irma. With two floors there already, how can we integrate a third? It had to kind of blend in color-wise, and also not clash with the patterns. It had to be plain. I hope what we finally settled on will look ok.
The place where the kitchen used to be which our sellers removed when they left. That is the caldaia on the left on the wall. A caldaia is a boiler. We have two. This one doesn’t work now. Most houses heat the radiators and the water with these. This means the wall is full of pipes. Water and gas for the heating system upstairs and the water. This makes demolition a bit harder. The pipes will have to be run under the floor and they will install a new caldaia outside.
Pipes.
I boxed up all our books and things and piled everything up on the two couches so they could be covered and sealed against the dust. This is just the one. The guys will roll up the carpet for me.
I don’t know how awful the noise will be yet. If it is too bad we may have to find a place to retreat to in the day time. More for the cats than us. We could always leave but they can’t unless we find a place for us all to go. Jackhammers are loud 😳.
The work will last about two months. The worst should be over in the beginning. They will completely seal the upper floor from the lower meaning to access it we will have to go out and up the elevator or stairs and then in the door upstairs. Not really all that hard. The washer and drier are up there and some plants outside which will need watering. ~~~~~~~ I have only one key to the upstairs door. I went out last week to our Ferramenta – hardware store EmporioCasa. They made two keys. They didn’t work. Back this morning. I pointed out the difference in the two keys. He made two more which looked the same to me. They didn’t work 😡 So I went back right away because I need the keys tomorrow. Finally this time they work. Whew.
The Ferramenta is a cool little place, long and skinny with two floors the bottom of which is open to the top floor. Stuff is everywhere! You don’t really browse in here. You ask for what you want. I sometimes take a picture of it and show it to them, which helps. Although the place is a jumble, the father and son and helper know where EVERYTHING is. This is outside sign. The building is right behind the train station.
You really can get just about anything here. Zoom in on these. This first one I wanted to show all the baskets they have up on the ceiling, for hunting mushrooms and truffles.
Two more. They have things seasonally. Now you’ll find heaters and fireplace tools and grates. Also pellets for the stufe. In the olive harvest season, they have rakes, and beaters, nets and the big cans the mill puts the oil in as well as smaller tins for separating it into usable sizes.
We decided to go out for lunch on Sunday, Calagrana was having a Sunday Roast and all the fixings. This is a British tradition every Sunday at all the pubs. It had been a while since we had eaten out. My appetizer was an artichoke, beet and goat cheese insalata (really good). And we had the roast. Which was not beef but lamb and pork belly. Pictures.
Ely seated us at a table next to Americans who live here part time that we had never met. Dale and Mark from Dayton Ohio. They have a house near the Niccone valley. We had a very nice time getting acquainted. They apparently had just met friends of ours a few days before Joanne and Lynne in a cafe in Passignano. There are a lot more of us around here than we know!
So stay tuned for more regular posts about the kitchen renovation. Ciao!
Today is January 30. I really dislike January. It is long. And it is cold, with short days. I don’t like to go out in the cold. Truth be told, it isn’t THAT cold here. Last night was our coldest so far 26F – or -3C. I remind myself it is good for the olives. I can’t complain about the sunshine. It has been bright and sunny. Bright and sunny usually means colder. Cloudy is not so cold. I’ll take the sun!
We have been using our stufa – pellet stove – for most of our heat during the daytime. We turn it off at night. I turn down the gas heat to pretty much off at night. Then I usually turn up the gas heat in the morning for an hour and turn on the stufa. As it got colder, we realized the heat from the stufa was going right up the stairway and the cold air was coming right down. There is presently no heat upstairs. We are waiting for the construction to begin. I studied the stairway. It is open in several ways. But I saw that with some extension curtain rods I could devise a curtain to close off most of the heat loss. It really makes a difference. Here is my fix. The curtains will come down in the spring and be stowed away until next winter.
I did make a yummy pasta dish. It is a traditional Sicilian recipe. I googled and there were lots of examples with slight changes, as always, to some of the ingredients. It is called variously, Sicilian sausage with fennel sauce. I mixed and matched and it was very delicious.
Here is what I did. I used about half a pound (or less) of sausage for the two of us. (Note: this would be delicious without the sausage if you don’t eat meat) I sautéed it until browned, then I added 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 onion, one fennel bulb (all diced) and 2 garlic cloves. I covered and cooked about 15 minutes until vegetables were soft. At the end I added a minced jalapeño (frozen last summer from my garden). I take the frozen pepper out of the freezer and immediately deseed it and mince it while it is still frozen. The Sicilians do like a nice bit of spice but you can leave it out. I deglazed the pan with wine but any liquid will do. Then I added about half a cup of stock and covered the pan and simmered another 15 minutes. For the pasta, I chose to use a big tube type pasta called Calamarata. It is named that because it looks like squid rings. Penne or rigatoni work fine too. I poured a dollop of cream into the sauce to make it creamy (some recipes use ricotta which I would definitely try) and then tossed in the drained, almost cooked pasta. I found the sauce liquid enough that I didn’t need any pasta water. I tossed it until the pasta was nice and al dente. Serve with grated cheese like pecorino Romagna, grana padana, or parmigiana. Garnish with fennel fronds if you have them.
It has been slow around here. It is one reason I have not posted, not much to write about. I have moved my office from upstairs down to the 3rd bedroom on the bottom floor. I also have been packing boxes of things upstairs and am almost done. I am anxiously awaiting the kitchen to start. We contemplate moving out for the daytimes if we can find a place to stay. It will make the noise easier to handle. I want the noisy stuff done soonest – the rest should be tolerable. New office location.
Today we went to our health department to see about the new Tessere Sanitaria we need to get every January. The new fees are quite a lot higher. €2,000 flat fee per person plus an income based extra amount. It is quite a lot more than we were paying in all the previous years. But we had read that we’re eligible for the health care for free now that we have our PdS Lungo Periodo – or permanent residence. Thing is not many of us immigrants have gotten this long term card yet. You’ve got to jump through a lot of hoops to get it and only after 5 years continuous residence. Also, we were on the early edge of retirees moving here. So, that meant our health department had never seen one before. As you can imagine, many phone calls were made. Much ass covering was done. But in the end we walked out with cards good for five years, AND for FREE! It is a very good day. This card will also give us coverage in all of the EU. Very handy.
Last night I decided to make risotto in the instant pot. I had read it was a great and labor saving way to do it. I had some left over shrimp stock and some shrimp so I adapted the recipe for that. The recipe is here – instant pot risotto. I cut the recipe in half and used shrimp stock instead of chicken. Pretend you see shrimp on top of this…we ate them before I could take a photo! 😋
i went for a little walk today. The weather is pretty nice, the cold is gone and highs are in the 50s in the daytime. Here are a couple pictures. One is the park near us called le pinette. And the other is a cute preschool they built last year. I love the little buildings with big windows and high ceilings and bright colors! Really attractive.
Finally, here is my wonky lemon tree. She’s inside for the winter, or until construction starts. She gave us lots of lemons as always.
I heard about the deep freeze dipping far south — state al caldo!
When I was growing up, Thursday afternoon was the time the banks didn’t open. And shops didn’t stay open late, ever. And never on a Sunday, would anything be open except restaurants. Even in my 20s in a small town called Jackson Ohio it was the same.
Umbertide is like the towns from my youth, only more so. I am sure I have mentioned the “pausa” here in this journal before. For those not familiar, it is similar to the Spanish Siesta. All stores and offices close at 12:30 or 1:00 and stay closed until 4:00 or 4:30. This happens all over Italy except for the biggest cities (still small shops will close there too) and also tourist towns whose shops stay open all day. On Sunday, only the four grocery stores in town open, and only in the morning. All this takes quite a bit of getting used to for us immigrants. Italians also don’t like to rush into the week too quickly. Many places open on Monday afternoon but not Monday morning. This means one never plans anything on Monday morning. It is the way!
I was reminded of all of this this morning when walking back from the market. There are two little shops along Via Roma, one of the shopping streets. One is a housewares shop (Brescia Casalinghi). Lots of pretty nice stuff, plus stuff outside on sale for cheap.
The other shop is named Idee di Nuove di Volpi. It sells everything it seems. Casalinghi (housewares), articoli di regali (gifts), cornici (frames) and ferramenta (hardware). Yep a diverse offering! I love to browse in there. All sorts of stuff. I think in the US we called it a Sundries Shop, an old fashioned word. This picture is at Christmas with cute stuffed elves.
Florist – fioraia – next door.
Every town also has its “Chinese store”. They are always owned and run by Chinese. They are full of cheap stuff. Pretty much whatever you need, you’ll find it there, and cheap, but don’t expect it to last.
~~~~~~~ As an aside, this building is a fixture. It has been for sale forever, from way before we moved here. We could see it from our last apartment. It is a palazzo of great age. It is built into the city walls. It had fallen into disrepair. But the new super bonus incentive here and the fact it was bought by the city has allowed it to be restored. The scaffolding is gone and it looks terrific. I love that top floor loggia. I am not sure but I think it will be apartments.
It has gotten cold for Italy anyway. It is never terribly cold. Otherwise we wouldn’t have olives. But it sure feels cold. Stai caldo – stay warm! Un abbraccio a tutti e buona domenica!
Hi everyone! I know it has been a while. Once we got back from England and got through the Christmas activities things slowed down — and so did I!
The week after Christmas was quiet. The 26th is a holiday here so that was a four day weekend. Our neighbors across the hall brought us some delicious brownies. Hand decorated by Celeste and Chiara. Really sweet of them and sweet to taste too! My birthday is the 28th but I never really do anything. Having a birthday in the week after Christmas is stinky. No one feels like doing anything…including me! So that day passed quietly.
I stayed up until midnight watching the new year come in all over the world on CNN, every hour. There were some pretty amazing displays. I also wanted to see the crazy fireworks in Umbertide from our roof. I can see the town fireworks from here easily down by La Rocca, which I couldn’t see from our old apartment. And then all the Italians are mad for their own shows and boy did they ever. Our next door neighbor, with a roof terrace too, shot off some pretty big and sophisticated fireworks. I took a video which I tried to edit but it didn’t work – sorry. The fireworks farther away are the city fireworks. The ones right above me are from our next door neighbor.
New Year’s Day we went to the New Year brunch (yes a brunch!!) at Calagrana. Brunch isn’t a “thing” here. I haven’t been to one since being in the US. Great menu. It was very hard to choose. We both decided to have the Acciughe which is anchovies. Not just any anchovies but Cantabrico from Spain. With toasted bread and butter. Mmmm. Then I had the Mac and cheese 😁 But Wait! Not just your run-of-the-mill Mac n cheese…it was truffled Mac n cheese! It was good!
We had dinner at C’Era una Volta with the folks who bought Joseph and Paul’s house. Their daughter who lives in Rome came as well. It was nice to meet her. And we had dinner with Susan and Gary.
Susan was an important part of why we moved to a Umbertide in particular. She had a blog about her little vacation apartment on the piazza and I found it. Back in 2013 there weren’t as many blogs about Italy as now. I reached out to her a bit before we came. We also found another tiny blog by a (now) friend in Montone and he put us in touch with Jim our real estate agent. Jim found us a little apartment to rent for three weeks. So we came on a house hunting trip. We looked all over Umbria but by then, we found we quite liked this little town, so we bought our first apartment and flew back home to move permanently here. Thanks to Susan and Gary. The bittersweet is that they moved to Florence a couple years ago and we saw them less frequently but they still had their pretty place here. This dinner last week was our last super together here. They had come to move their belongings because they had sold their house. The end of an era. We will stay friends. I am sure.
Saturday was Epifania, Epiphany. The twelfth day of Christmas. The day the Magi came with gifts for the baby Jesus. The day before was when Befana, the Christmas witch came to visit all the children and leave gifts (or coal if you were bad) in their stockings. Remember the all Santa Claus band recently? Well this night we had an all Witch band!
Waaaay back before Christmas, you may remember the trip report of our short trip to England. Remember the lost backpack that Luther left in the rental car? Well ever since then Luther has been working to get the thing shipped back. We had the help of one of the nicest people ever to work for a rental car company, Victoria. She kindly packed the backpack in a box and affixed the label. It was ready for shipping. The first courier he chose used another company to pick things up and twice they claimed they couldn’t find the Enterprise Rent-a-car desk at the airport. Now seriously…who among us has not been able to find a rental car place in a strange airport? None of us of course! But these dolts couldn’t. So Luther regrouped and tried UPS. He got a message the package had been picked up! Yay! Then nothing. So Luther contacted UPS and they said the package had never arrived to them. They said he should check the shipper. Luther reminded them that THEY are the shipper! Hmmm. So they said they could try to track it but Luther couldn’t ask for that since he didn’t send it. He would have to ask Victoria to do it, which he did. Even though she was on vacation she said she would. Yesterday a courier dropped off a package for us and I went down to get it. It was a small box but it was from the UK! And it was from Victoria! And delivered by UPS. So the long lost backpack is back. The important item was Luther’s hearing aids. €3,500 that we didn’t want to lose. The champagne flowed last night. So relieved!
The cold weather is upon us. I find myself staying in mostly, but I am getting much done. I’m packing our smaller things, books, pottery, etc in preparation for the kitchen to try to keep the dust off. We also are trying to renew our health coverage which expires each year in December 31st. The problem. Italy passed a new budget and they changed the amount that we stranieri have to pay. But no one knows how to implement it since it just was passed December 29th but went into affect on January 1. They are just telling people here in Umbria to come back. It could put us all in limbo for a long time. But I’m hoping we will get resolution soon.
We also are doing jigsaw puzzles. We have always done this in the winter, since I was small. Luther loves them. This one is coming along. Only the really hard-to-do part is left.
I have many wishes for this year. I won’t list them all but I hope we can work together more and there will be more kindness and caring for our fellow humans.
I made a big ole batch of my chocolate chip pecan cookies which I make every year. I had a lot more places to take them this year. On Saturday I took them to Angelo, my old friend in Centro near our old apartment. And also to Irene at Bar Mary as I always have. I also took a box to Vera and her family. I just snuck into their building and left it near their door – they weren’t home. Luther and I took one box to each neighbor in our stairwell. We don’t do a lot of socializing with them, we just see them in passing. They are very nice and seemed to be happy to get them. The two little girls across from us made us a lovely thank you card which they hung near our door.
Hand made card from the little girls across the hall, Celeste and Chiara.
We were invited by friends to a Christmas open house on Friday and I took some cookies to them. They live out in the mountains between Umbertide, Pietralungo and Gubbio. Beautiful home and location. It was cozy and we really had a great time. Here is a picture we took on the way home. Amazing views as you run along a high spine of a mountain.
Winter can be beautiful!
Christmas Eve I heard a band playing outside! Who says nothing happens outside the Centro?!
Santa band
I picked up an 8.5 kilo Turkey, which is about 19 lbs on Christmas Eve from Calagrana. It came stuffed with aromatics and stuffing balls cooked on the side. Such a pretty day. Winter in Umbria is upon us. I took a picture.
Niccone valley, all buttoned up for winter.
Christmas Eve we were invited to friends house for dinner in Montone. We walked down to the small square to see the town tree. And a presepe (crèche) on the way back.
Montone tree in the one and only piazza.Presepe contest in town. People put these nativities outside and townsfolk vote.
There were six for dinner, our Montone friends and an Australian couple who are part time Montone residents. An extra special evening. Delicious food and good conversation. We went outside their home to view their Presepe. I thought it was lovely and a bit spooky. I would vote for it!
When we got home that evening we found this in the hall. A little something for Babbo Natale and his reindeer.
I cooked the Turkey and made mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and the dressing from Ely on Christmas. Very nice and now I don’t have to cook for a while! I see many turkey sandwiches in our future!
Pre-gravyFinished gravyTacchino was delizioso!
Later we had the very special panettone we pre-order from the bakery in the Centro, pistacchio creme. Amazingly delicious.
Today is also a holiday here. We are taking it easy after our over indulgences of yesterday. Turkey sammiches for lunch! 🥪 ~~~~~~ Alla prossima! Nancy 💕
As I mentioned in the last post we were going to Calagrana. It was coolish but nice and sunny today. Good Thanksgiving weather! We drove Christie and Jane along with ourselves. At table was a great mix of people. There were fourteen of us. The restaurant had two other tables of two and one of four.
It turns out I knew some people either actually or virtually at all the tables. Two were people I was only Facebook friends with Joan and Giovani who I enjoyed meeting. They live in Deruta – the Ceramics town. And Cathy and Sal who we met a few years ago when they viewed our apartment. They ended up buying out in the country in the beautiful valley south of Gubbio. Then there was Tanya, Lisa, Nigel and Michael who are local friends.
At our table were six Italians, one British, and seven Americans. A great mix with me getting to use my Italian because I was near the Italian group. The Italians are all enthusiastic Thanksgiving fans. Especially Fabio 😁. We buy our olive oil from him.
The meal. Ely had made a lovely group of four finger foods. I know there was date wrapped in prosciutto, arancia, and two others I couldn’t identify. I am missing one in my picture because I ate one before remembering to take a picture 🫤
Then came a delicious risotto with zucca and Scamorza cheese. Smoky flavor. Albi is a Milanese and risotto is their special dish. The rice was al dente, it had a very, slight crunch in the mouth. Perfetto!
Then the feast. Turkey with all the trimmings. The bird was 18 kilos or about 40 pounds.
Sweet potatoes
The dessert was a ricotta tart with candied fruit and vanilla gelato. A treat because they don’t often have vanilla here.
Our friend Christie who was one of the couple who bought our previous house can really sing well and she gave us a song. The song was, Put Some Sugar in My Bowl. 🙂 Oh la la.
We arrived at one pm and left at five thirty. A normal Italian pranzo with friends. I thank Susan and Gary for treating us to our meals. Luther and I provided the wine. I thank Ely and Albi and Ristorante Calagrana for the feast! And I am thankful for all the people I can call friends here. Makes me very happy.💕
On our way out, I paused to take this photo of the valley from the restaurant at dusk. The half moon had risen. It was lovely. I hope that all that celebrate it, had a nice Thanksgiving.
We are in Thanksgiving week. There are a few other things happening. We have done some doctor stuff. We got our flu shots Tuesday. But we want a Covid booster and our doctor said we need to go to the health department (CUP). Well I asked in the Facebook group for expats here called Umbrialiens and got some interesting insights. I got a link from a friend for online appointments and was surprised that none were nearby. Another friend north of us said the Upper Tiber Valley, where we are, has a shortage of vaccine. Only health care people and over 80 years old can get it. I guess that explains the lack of locations near us. I really don’t understand how our little area doesn’t have vaccines when the rest of our region does. 🤦🏻♀️. Mystifying. Anyway, we made an appointment in a town near the lake and will go in December. I know so many people with the virus. I really don’t want to get it, or if I do, I want it to be not terrible. ~~~~~~~~ I had a lovely coffee with a good friend, Elizabeth today. She is doing well and expecting a lot of guests in the upcoming months. She wrote a book a few years ago about the Upper Tiber Valley called Sustenance which is a wonderful chronicle of the artisanal producers in the valley. ~~~~~~~~ We had a lovely dinner with our friends Susan and Gary last night. We went to Grace, our nice neighborhood restaurant. Good food. Great to catch up. You may remember they were our first friends here and had the small apartment we stayed in during our first renovation. And another bigger place. They have sold both so they won’t be here often and we miss them a lot. We are simpatico is in all ways. Hard to meet people like this. We did plan a vacation together next year for October. Should be fun. To the Loire. We are compatible travel companions and always have fun together. 🥰 My most interesting dish from dinner was a red cabbage soup. I love the color!
I also met with my architect, Irma, at Nicoletti, the falegname (cabinet maker) who will be making our cabinets. It turned out to be productive but somewhat stressful. The decisions I was making I’ll have to live with for a long time. 😳 I was surprised to see the list of orders for custom made cabinets included the UK and France. It was cheaper for Nicoletti to make them and ship them than to have them made in their own country. I went into the factory part which was a beehive of activity. They can make ANYTHING exactly like you want. Pretty impressive. Anyway, now I’m in the queue. They will make them in January or February and install them in March. Hopefully the first two weeks of March since we will be in the US after that. I don’t really want my house-sitters to have to deal with it! I could always put them off until we return I hope! ~~~~~~~~ Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We will go to Calagrana which will be making the traditional meal. The evolution of Thanksgiving at Calagrana is interesting. Ely being British and Alberto Italian didn’t know much about the feast. About 9 years ago our friends Susan and Gary wanted to have thanksgiving but they couldn’t cook the huge turkey at home. So Susan hired Ely to roast one for her, plus appetizers etc. Ely was up all night roasting the 35 pound bird and talking to her sister in Philadelphia who collaborated. We picked up the turkey and had the feast at Susan and Gary’s house. That was the same for the next year. Then we decided it was easier for us to go to Calagrana than to bring the bird from there to us. Ely and Albi invited us into their home since the restaurant was closed for the winter. That went for a few years. Then, Ely having become an enthusiastic Thanksgiving fan, decided to open the restaurant for the feast to anyone who reserved. So now that’s what we do. Tomorrow we are guests of Susan and Gary and we will be a table of ten I think.
I am thinking that next year, once I’ve got a kitchen, I’ll have a meal at our house maybe for our single friends who would enjoy coming together for the feast. And some of our other new friends. Since Susan and Gary now live in Florence and have sold here I’m not sure how often we will see them.
HAPPY THANKS GIVING. EVERYONE! There will be a post about our meal soon.
I don’t think I posted about my recurrent sinus infection? I think not. I had an infection back in June. I started at the dentist because I thought the pain was from a tooth. She said I needed to see an Otorinolaringoiatra, or in plain terms a ENT doc. In June he gave me an antibiotic and it made it go away. It came back just before our cruise. It made that a bit difficult and when I came back I started to try to find treatment. I got more antibiotics and a prescription for a CT scan. The antibiotics didn’t work this time. I made an appointment at a diagnostic center in Città di Castello north of us. I got the CT scan (€120). Back to the doc yesterday. He wants yet ANOTHER scan. So tomorrow I go back for a different scan. Then he thinks I need an endoscopy of my nose. Ugh. But I feel really crummy. I want this fixed, if possible.
For those interested in how this works here, all this has been private pay until yesterday. The ENT doc charges €100 for a consult. Fine. That’s not bad. The scans are not expensive. But yesterday, the appointment when I returned with the scan was free. And the endoscopy will also be free under the Italian health system. The way Luther and I do it is pay for the first appointment then normally we get into the system so the treatment is free. This isn’t true for tests like an MRI, radiograph or CT scan. Those you do at a private diagnostic center. But they are cheap compared to US costs. ~~~~~~~~ One pet peeve I have is the ridiculous waste they have here for medicines. These, in the picture below, are for one month of blood pressure meds for me. I take 2 pills a day. Unlike in the US, where they come in a plastic bottle, here they come in bubble packs and boxes. This seems like an inordinate amount of waste. I don’t know why it is this way.
We had a nice lunch on the weekend. Here are a couple of pictures. First one is on the way. I tried to lighten it but if I did I lost that dramatic sky. So, it is what it is!
